In the Media

Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Freakonomics guest host Adam Davidson about his new book, economic history, and why new technologies impact people differently. “What do people creating technology, deploying technology— what exactly are they seeking to achieve? If they’re seeking to replace people, then that’s what they’re going to be doing,” says Johnson. “But if they’re seeking to make people individually more productive, more creative, enable them to design and carry out new tasks — let’s push the vision more in that direction. And that’s a naturally more inclusive version of the market economy. And I think we will get better outcomes for more people.”

In an article he co-authored for Fortune, postdoctoral associate Matthew Hughes explains how extreme heat affects different kinds of machines. “In general, the electronics contained in devices like cellphones, personal computers and data centers consist of many kinds of materials that all respond differently to temperature changes,” they write. “So as the temperature increases, different kinds of materials deform differently, potentially leading to premature wear and failure." 

Michal Caspi Tal, a principal research scientist in the department of biological engineering, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Kay Lazar about her research aimed at better understanding why some people develop chronic illness after infection with Lyme disease and Covid-19. “Long Covid and chronic Lyme share so many features that it’s uncanny,” said Tal. “This is a solvable problem. This is not rocket science. This just needs to be looked at with fresh eyes.”

Forbes reporter Roger Trapp spotlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s work in improving employer operations as part of an effort to better satisfy employees. Ton has written two books, “Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits” and “The Case for Good Jobs,” which explores how “a combination of high investment in people and a set of choices [can produce] operational excellence,” writes Trapp.

Graduate student Turga Ganapathy is studying the best ways to grow spirulina at home so that the microalgae can be used as a food source, reports WCVB-TV. Spirulina “are complete proteins, meaning that they produce amino acids that the human body cannot synthesize that we usually get from animals or a combination of different plant-based proteins,” says Ganapathy.

Jasmin Moghbeli '05 is the mission commander for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station, reports Russ Reed for WCVB-TV. “This marked Moghbeli's first trip into space since she was selected to be a NASA astronaut in 2017,” writes Reed. “Belief in yourself is something really powerful,” Moghbeli said before the flight.

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have used artificial intelligence to develop a new antibiotic to combat Acinetobacter baumannii, a challenging bacteria known to become resistant to antibiotics, reports Hannah Kuchler for the Financial Times. “It took just an hour and a half — a long lunch — for the AI to serve up a potential new antibiotic, an offering to a world contending with the rise of so-called superbugs: bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that have mutated and no longer respond to the drugs we have available,” writes Kuchler.

Jasmin Moghbeli '05 is serving as mission commander on the SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station, which includes astronauts from 4 different countries, reports Jackie Wattles for CNN. “We are extremely proud — and I know I personally am humbled — to be a member of this incredible crew, where if you look at our four patches you’ll see a different nation’s flag on each one,” Moghbeli said of the flag patches adorning the astronauts’ suits. “We hope this represents what we can accomplish when we work together in unity and cooperate together. And we think this really is what the International Space Station is all about.”

For Jasmin Moghbeli ’05, who is serving as mission commander for the SpaceX Crew-7 journey to the International Space Station, the mission is about “determination, exploration and inspiration, especially to the next generation of girls like her twin daughters," reports Mark Strassmann for CBS News. Moghbeli notes that when her daughters see “the diverse crews that are going up there, they realize they can be part of this, whether it's becoming an astronaut or something else. They realize they can do it as well."

Nature contributor David Chandler writes about the late Prof. Edward Fredkin and his impact on computer science and physics. “Fredkin took things even further, concluding that the whole Universe could actually be seen as a kind of computer,” explains Chandler. “In his view, it was a ‘cellular automaton’: a collection of computational bits, or cells, that can flip states according to a defined set of rules determined by the states of the cells around them. Over time, these simple rules can give rise to all the complexities of the cosmos — even life.”

MIT Energy Initiative Interim Director Robert Stoner speaks with Boston Public Radio hosts Jared Bowen and Andrea Cabral about the MIT Energy Initiative and low – or even no – carbon solutions that could mitigate climate change.

Prof. Kristin Forbes speaks with Bloomberg reporters Haidi Stroud-Watts and Sherry Anh about her outlook on the future of the economy and economic policy “We just don’t know right now where unemployment could settle, where inflation settles around 2%,” says Forbes. “We don’t know where interest rates could settle to balance growth and employment, according to the Fed’s mandate.”

Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Boston Globe reporter Aruni Soni about her new study that finds reducing the cost of solar energy will be accelerated by improvements in soft tech. “We found that the soft technology involved in solar energy really has not changed and hasn’t improved nearly as quickly as the hardware,” says Trancik. “These soft costs, in many systems, can be 50 percent or even more of the total cost of solar electricity.”

Tomashi Jackson SMACT ’12 has been awarded the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum’s Rappaport Prize which honors local artists who have “demonstrated significant creativity and vision,” reports Emma Glassman-Hughes for The Boston Globe. Jackson says much of her work “is defined by the push and pull of ‘grief and joy’ and how they appear differently in public and private contexts,” writes Glassman-Hughes.

Researchers from the MIT AgeLab and Transamerica have found that individuals ages 40 to 59 are more likely to struggle with preparing for increased longevity, reports Lorie Konish for CNBC. “The research finds while 74% of people in their 50s say it is extremely or very important to save enough money to eventually stop working, just 57% said they expect to be able to retire,” writes Konish. “Moreover, half of people in midlife are struggling to get by financially, more than other age groups studied.”